CONVERGENCE

"Yeah, that's me. Just call me Melissa. Never did well with formality. Who the hell are you guys? What do you want?" Lorene raised an eyebrow. Arbor moved forward next to you. "We were wondering if we could see your kid-" You quickly shoved Arbor backwards before they could make Melissa even more suspicious. [["Have you heard anything from Marve's caretaker home? We wanted to talk with the both of you about the possibility of care together with Fern, too."]]

"Oh, you're with them? I remember hearing about that. I'm not quite sure if I need foster care though, still doing fine on my own as you can see!" Melissa seemed to relax a bit, her shoulders loosening as she grinned. "Fern insists on it though. I dunno why, even when they're away I can handle myself just fine. Here, come-" Melissa stopped. "Wait, why are you guys here in person? How do you know where we live?" This was [bad.]<bad| []<space| (click: ?bad)[(replace: ?space)[ You had to quickly think on your feet to come up with some way you were able to be here. There was no address in the fourm you saw. Could you say you were just in the area? No, that would be too convenient. Or you could say that you asked around, but that would be too suspicious. You needed to at least establish contact with the POI before the other janitors moved in- [["Oh, we just knocked on every door until we found yours!"]] ]]

You turned back to look at Arbor in pure disbelief. Nobody does that. Who the hell would do that? But he said it with such pure innocence you couldn't tell if he was a pathological liar or genuienly believed that's what you did. Melissa squinted at Arbor. It was [over.]<over| You were so going to complain to your manager about this. []<space| (click: ?over)[(replace: ?space)[ And then she started laughing. Laughing so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes. "Oh-god, you two are //killing// me here! You folks seem so endearing that it's someing you would genuinely do. Honestly, that's so absurd that I can see it happening. Next time, just send an email, alright?" She opened the door wider. "Sorry 'bout being all paranoid. Things have been tense lately, so I'm a bit on edge. You won't catch Fern here, though. They went out." [[You froze in your tracks.]] ]]

The world was still spinning as you got out of the car. "See? We got there fast, and we had fun! You'll never work a day in your life if you love what you do, right? Or something like that." Arbor streched as he shut the door of the car. You sighed with dissagreement, directing Arbor's attention back to the house. Though the car ride was hell, he was right-you guys did get here fast. There were no other janitors here. You thought it might be a good idea to [[knock on the door]] first before trying to extract the POI.

(text-colour:black)+(bg:white)[the vigenere key is the missing name]

You grabbed your laptop and threw it in your bag, just in case you might need any files. The rest of your team had probably been closing in quickly on the location from their scattered locations, so you had to be quick. You quickly threw open the doors out the facility running out from the back [door.]<door| []<space| (click: ?door)[(replace: ?space)[ "What, gonna get there on foot?" A car nearly hit you as it skid to a stop in front of you, as you staggered backward. "C'mon, if we're getting there, we better get there with a little bit of style, right?" Arbor grinned, slapping the side of the car door as if to invite you in. You grumbled saying that the less attention that the team attracted, the better. "Sorry, sorry, but hey, can you blame me? We've been looking for a while, and now we're finally gonna find Fern-I mean, the POI! [Seatbelts on?"]<seatbelts| []<space2| (click: ?seatbelts)[(replace: ?space2)[ You silently nodded, and a wave of regret rushes over you as Arbor revs the engine with a coy grin. No wonder he asked for seatbelts, you would have been flying out the windshield first thing if you didn't have yours on. The road was nothing more than an abstract blur as Arbor sped down the street, finally arriving at the address you sent out. [[2298 Williams Avenue.]] ]] ] ]

You told Melissa that it was probably better to come by once Fern was back. "Oh, okay! Do you need a number, or-" You shook your head, saying there was no need and you would be back soon as you dragged Arbor away. "Woah, woah, what's the hold up? They're gonna come back, right? I mean, they probably just went out for groceries or something. No sweat." You told Arbor that this was bad. Very, very bad. Because with the downward spiral that you've been seeing in the POI, what the company said, even the failsafe that the company said that obtaining their dead body would be okay gave you a hunch that they wouldn't be going home. And that missing, locked folder in their notes. Even without knowing how to open it, you realized what it probably was. As all the other janitors arrived at around the same time outside of the home looking at you and Arbor exiting in confusion, you told all of them to look around. Search any tall building nearby. You opened your laptop, opening a map of the city and the files you downloaded from their computer. You needed to find [[Fern Ashby.]]

You knocked on the white wooden door in front of you, with Arbor behind you. The home seemed quite old with some paint peeling off the door. It just seemed like a cheap, suburban home. "Coming!" A muffled voice emerged from behind the door. A woman opened the door, with her slightly messy long hair. She wore a loose shirt with some pajama pants, but even though she staggered and held herself up on the door there was something tough about her that put you on edge. The woman squinted at you, eying both you and Arbor with a skeptical look. "Who are you guys? Here to talk about Jehova's Witnesses or something?" [["Are you Ms. Ashby?"]]